Characters - CCEAAlicia: controlling and snobbish

Controlling

Alec’s mother is beautiful and charming to those around her.

Perhaps this is why she has always had her own way in life, and has become dominant and controlling to anyone who has a relationship with her.

She makes decisions about her child’s welfare which seem to be based on what will be most beneficial to her as opposed to him.

She doesn’t want Alec to go to school because she has “no intention of remaining alone in this house” with her husband, Frederick. But she fails to acknowledge that this might make Alec lonely and ostracised.

She emotionally blackmails Alec, frequently using her own feelings to persuade him to do things he does not want to do. His refusal to go to war is met with her response that “It means a lot to me” and “You are a coward.”

In the end - in an attempt to force him to war because it is what she wants - she cruelly tells Alec that Frederick is not really his father.

Throughout the novel she is seen to do whatever it takes to make things go her way.

Snobbish

Johnston uses Alec’s mother to show the class distinctions and the attitudes associated with them which were common in the early 20th century, especially before World War One.

She is furious about Alec’s friendship with “that boy” from a lower class and will do anything - including taking Alec away to Europe with her - to ensure she puts an end to it.

She dismisses Alec’s unfortunate piano teacher because she cannot bear him “Dragging his disease and poverty into my drawing-room.”

Her desire to be regarded as a woman of culture and breeding is illustrated by her refined eating and drinking, her piano playing and her dress code.

She believes herself to be superior to others. Her entitled nature is shown for example when she summons a maid to do something as small as closing the curtains, instead of closing them herself.

It is this strong belief in the inherent inferiority of people like Jerry that fuels her snobbery and her poor treatment of others.